We used to have a Mediterranean/Israeli Restaurant in Phoenix Arizona called Zabari Mediterranean Grill. It was there I tasted an amazing salad that I never heard of before called Matbucha (a slightly spicy cold cooked tomato and roasted pepper salad). My gosh it was one of the most delicious things that I never knew that I liked. So I studied every recipe that I could find for Matbucha, made a chart of every ingredient that every recipe had in Matbucha and picked the ingredients that I wanted to use and the amounts that I thought were correct and tried to make a salad similar tasting to the Zabari’s Matbucha. I think I did it right because it came out amazing…..like I can sell it amazing…..Anyways today I made an even better batch of Matbucha (I got the textures better and the flavor even better) I started to think that since these flavors are so great that I can make a completely different salad with the same flavors and I did! I had around 5 cucumbers that I had to use….added onions and celery and then I was thinking chick peas but went with butterbeans because butterbeans have a more melt in your mouth texture that I thought would be better. Anyway it’s a winner. This will make around 4 servings. Feel free to add a few small sweet tomatoes if you have any…I would have added a few if I had some.
Ingredients for around 4 servings
5 cucumbers – peeled and seeds removed and sliced
1 large onion – sliced very thin and lightly rough chopped
2 stalks celery – small dice
1 – 15 oz can butterbeans drained and rinsed three times
11/2 – teaspoons sea salt (or to taste)
3 garlic cloves – ground to paste
1 Tablespoon Aleppo pepper
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon hot paprika
1/4 teaspoon sweet paprika
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
big splash (I didn’t measure but think it was about a 1/3 of a cup of rice wine vinegar)
ground black pepper to taste
Directions
Everything above goes in a large mixing bowl. Mix and season to taste!
Enjoy!
